Door-spring



(No Model.)

B. A. OALAHAN.

DOOR SPRING.

No. 406,025. Patented July 2. 1889..

PETERS. Phm-quw m. Washinglan.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDwAED A. CALAIIAN, on BROOKLYN, NEW YORK- DOOR-SPRING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 406,025, dated July 2,1889.

Application filed April 15, 1889.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. CALAHAN, of Brooklyn, in the county ofKings, State of New York, have invented certain new andusefulImprovements in Door=Springs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of doorsprings in which avertically-arranged rod or coiled spring is employed, the tension 011the spring being obtained by torsion or twist. Heretofore with theordinary torsion rod springs a wrench or key separate and detached fromthe spring or its attachment by which it is secured to the door has beenemployed, and a toothed wheel and detent have been used to hold thespring with the twist or torsion upon it. IVith such an arrangement ithas been difficult to get any very nice adjustment of the spring, forthe reason that it must always be twisted to"sueh a position that thedetent will enter a tooth of the wheel. In the springs of this class nowupon the market, it is necessary to turn the detent laterally out ofengagement with the wheel, apply the wrench to the spring, and then turnthe detent back into a notch in the wheel. Such a construction, it istrue, gives the capacity of adjusting the spring to either open or closea door, but it is inconvenient and undesirable, and if an ordinary pawland ratchet were employed the spring could, of course, only be twistedin one direction. Coiled springs acting analogously to the torsion-rodsprings and adjusted in a somewhat similar manner are open to the sameobjection, and so far as I am aware are adapted to be adjusted in onedirection only.

In my improved apparatus I effect the adjustment of the spring by a wormand wheel. It will therefore be obvious that by the rotation of the wormin either direction the spring may be twisted to its fullest extent ineither direction and that the utmost nicety of adj ustment may beattained, and since the spring may be twisted in either direction ofcourse it may be equally well adjusted to either open or close the door.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a view, partly in section,showing a coiled Serial No. 307,307. (No model.)

spring with my improved attachment applied to a door. Fig. 2 is asectional view on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 shows a torsion-rodspring with my improved attaelt ment.

One end of the spring A, whether it be a coil-spring or torsion-rod, isattached to the door, as usual. The other end (in the way in, which Ihave chosen to illustrate my invem tion) is squared orangular and passesthrough the eorrespondingly-socketed hub of a toothed wheel a, mountedbetween lugs or plates Z) on a plate or support B, screwed to thedoorframe. In this instance the plate 1; is socured to the frame by thesame screws (1 that hold in place the bracket (1, in which the worm Dhas its bearing. The worm shaft is provided with a cross-pin orthumbpiece d, by which it may be rotated in either direction, and alsowith a notch, so that an ordinary screw-driver may be employed to turnit. It is plain now that by rotating the worm any desired torsion ortwist may be given to the spring, and that the adjustment may be madewith the utmost delicacy.

By rotating the worm in one direction the spring may be made to closethe door with any desired force. 13y reversing the direction of theworn], the spring may be readily brought to the neutral point, and bycontinuing its movement the direction of tension upon the spring may bechanged, so that it will tend to open the door with any desired force.

If it is desired that the door be entirely relieved from the action ofthe spring in any direction, the screws 0 may be removed and the bracket0 and worm D swung down out of engagement with the wheelnvhen the screwsmay be replaced.

I claim as my inventionl. The combination, with the door-spring, of theworm and wheel ad jnsting devices for giving a torsion or twist to thespring.

2. The combination of the Spring, the plate 13, the toothed wheel withwhich the spring is connected so as to turn with it, and the wormengaging the wheel to turn it in either directii'm.

3. The combination of the spring, the plate or support B, the wheel, theworm, the bracket in which the worm has its bearing, and the screws 0,for securing the bracket in place, whereby upon the removal of thescrews the bracket and worm may be turned down to disengage the wormfrom the wheel.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

EDWVARD A. CALAHAN.

Witnesses:

EDWARD O. DAVIDSON, M. J. KELLEY.

